12th International workshop – When Social Sciences meets Lean and Digital Technologies

Wednesday, May 21

The International Workshop When Social Science meets Lean and Digital Technologies has been successfully fostering dialogue between Lean Construction, Digitalisation, and the Social Sciences. Over the years, the adoption of Lean and the digitalisation of construction have been underpinning topics in the workshop. The relevance of social aspects is intrinsic to the interplay between Lean and Digital Technologies, and as such the workshop highlights the need to consider social aspects together with process and technology.

The workshop is set as a forum to enable the discussion and fertilisation of ideas on research currently under development.

Accepted papers will:

  • Reflect on existing research at the intersection of Lean, Social Sciences and Digital Technologies
  • Discusses the interplay between these areas; and
  • Offer insights into current research needs and trends

The workshop aims to provide a fertile ground for cross-disciplinary discussion and exchange. As such, it will comprise of keynote speeches and presentations of short research papers, followed by Q&A and discussions with a panel.

Workshop themes

Short papers will align with at least one of the following themes:

  • Theory Building
  • Sustainability and Net Zero
  • Circular Economy
  • Industry 4.0 and 5.0
  • Lean and BIM Implementation
  • Design Management
  • Collaboration and Participatory approaches
  • Integrated Project Delivery
  • Digitalisation and Automation in design and construction
  • Digital twins
  • Production Planning and Control
  • Prefabrication and Modular Construction
  • Health and Safety

Keynote

Vicente Gonzalez is a Professor of Construction Engineering and Management within the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Alberta. In 2022, Vicente was awarded one of Canada’s most prestigious academic honours — the Canada Research Chair. Thus, he holds a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Digital Lean Construction. Before joining the University of Alberta in 2022, Vicente was a faculty member at The University of Auckland (New Zealand) for over 12 years, where he currently holds an Honorary Academic position

Delivering a keynote at the workshop wil be Prof Ghassa Aouad –
The future of design and construction through scenario planning

Professor Aouad is Chancellor of Abu Dhabi University and previously President of Applied Science University in Bahrain and Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation at University of Salford. He has served as President and Vice President of the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). His full biography is available here.

Registration

To attend this workshop you are required to register to attend WBC2025 for one day or the whole conference

Register here

Organising committee

Patricia Tzortzopoulos, Nottingham Trent University, UK

Carlos Formoso, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Ivanka Iordanova, Ecole de Technologies Superieure (ETS), Canada

Dr Saeed Talebi,  Birmingham City University, UK

Details of the WBC2025 Organising committee are available here.

The workshop flyer can be downloaded here